Once Shared a Meal with Bin Laden.
Posted: Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:44 pm
Terror suspect Mohammed Warsame, 31, was charged last year with conspiracy to provide material support to al-Qaida. He remained in custody Wednesday, said Karen Bailey, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Warsame, a Somali with Canadian citizenship, was arrested in Minneapolis in December 2003. He had been living in Minnesota since 2002, with his wife and daughter, who was 5 when he was arrested.
An FBI agent's affidavit filed in conjunction with the original charge said Warsame traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001. In early 2001, prosecutors say, Warsame asked al-Qaida for money to move his family to Afghanistan.
Instead, an al-Qaida leader paid for Warsame's airplane ticket back to North America, and gave him $1,700 in travel money, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit states that Warsame claimed to have twice seen combat with front line units of the Taliban while in Afghanistan. He also said he had seen bin Laden on several occasions at one of the camps, including sharing a meal with the al-Qaida chief.
The executive director of the St. Paul-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center, Omar Jamal, said Warsame maintains his innocence. Jamal has been a spokesman for Warsame's family in Minneapolis.
"The charges are more about fear and to scare him to break him down more. We're very much concerned. We'll repeat our call to give him his
chance in court," Jamal told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S8937.html?cat=1
Warsame, a Somali with Canadian citizenship, was arrested in Minneapolis in December 2003. He had been living in Minnesota since 2002, with his wife and daughter, who was 5 when he was arrested.
An FBI agent's affidavit filed in conjunction with the original charge said Warsame traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001. In early 2001, prosecutors say, Warsame asked al-Qaida for money to move his family to Afghanistan.
Instead, an al-Qaida leader paid for Warsame's airplane ticket back to North America, and gave him $1,700 in travel money, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit states that Warsame claimed to have twice seen combat with front line units of the Taliban while in Afghanistan. He also said he had seen bin Laden on several occasions at one of the camps, including sharing a meal with the al-Qaida chief.
The executive director of the St. Paul-based Somali Justice Advocacy Center, Omar Jamal, said Warsame maintains his innocence. Jamal has been a spokesman for Warsame's family in Minneapolis.
"The charges are more about fear and to scare him to break him down more. We're very much concerned. We'll repeat our call to give him his
chance in court," Jamal told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.
http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S8937.html?cat=1